Sunrise
by CharlieCaller
Summary: The Hansens have to be there for Robbie when he is left in a serious condition after a crash. [Pls R/R, this is my first Providence story.]
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: The characters in the story do not belong to me; they belong to Providence and its related companies. I am not making any money from this story.

A/N: I have only just started to watch Providence (I'm at the start of Season 2) so, yeah, bear that in mind when reading. Also, I know this plotline has been done to death, but I thought I'd have a go. Hope you like it :) Feedback is always appreciated.

Sunrise

Prologue:

Robbie flew furiously along the streets of Providence on his motorbike. He did not know where he was going, or when he would be back. He needed the speed, the adrenaline, to get rid of his anger and frustration.

'You can't run from your problems forever,' his Dad had once said to him.

Running away from them was his favourite option. In the short-term, it worked well. In the long-term, Jim was right. It never solved anyone's problems. But Robbie never thought in the long-term.

As he picked his way through the traffic, he remembered what had caused the argument that morning.

'Where are my keys?'

It was a warm Saturday morning in April when Robbie Hansen crawled out of bed on hearing the frustrated call, and wandered towards the kitchen. After some deliberation, he settled for a bowl of cereal and cup of coffee to start his day. Hannah was already seated in her chair, playing with something, whilst her mother, Joanie, temporarily left the kitchen to see if the newspaper had arrived.

'Good morning, Hannah,' Robbie greeted, touching his spoon lightly upon her nose, causing her to giggle. 'How's my favourite niece this morning?'

'She's your only niece, and I am certainly not providing anymore at the moment,' Joanie snapped, returning to the kitchen. She did not look her usually bright self; she appeared to be troubled by something.

'Sorry I breathed,' Robbie muttered, looking down and taking a great interest in his coco-pops.

At that moment, his sister and father, Syd and Jim Hansen, walked into the kitchen.

'Where the hell are my keys?' a frustrated Syd demanded for what seemed to be the fiftieth time.

Hearing the sound of metal rattling next to him did not register until his sister had repeated this. He looked up and saw Hannah playing with the now found keys. 'Syd...'

'Robbie!' Syd snatched the drooled-on keys out of Hannah's mouth. 'Don't give things like that to Hannah!'

'But I...'

'The keys could cut her gums,' Jim added, picking up the newspaper.

'But...'

'Don't answer back, Rob,' Jim cut in sternly.

Angry at not being given a chance to explain, Robbie left his breakfast, grabbed his jacket, and stormed out of the door. Moments later, the roar of the bike could be heard fading away.

He had been snapped at with no provocation. He had been blamed. His side of the story had not been heard. He had been told off. He had stormed out of the house.

As usual.

It had been the same when he was younger. He would be told off, although mostly he deserved to be, and he had stormed out. Some things never changed.

He snapped back to reality on hearing police sirens in the distance. He looked in the wing-mirror to see a sleek black Saab driving rapidly and wildly in his direction, closely followed by a police-car with its sirens ablaze.

Robbie was unable to slip in between the traffic, which was moving quickly out of the way. The Saab was driving far too fast. Before he knew what had happened, the hood of the car caught the back wheel of his bike, sending both the vehicle and driver spinning across the road.

He fell to the ground, the chassis of the bike striking him heavily atop his chest. Robbie, dressed in little more than a leather jacket, t-shirt and jeans, rolled violently at a considerable speed to the side of the road, and crashed to a halt against two parked cars. As he tried to lift his head to regain his bearings, he groaned and the world around him faded into a painful black.


	2. Linda

Chapter 1: Linda  
  
The late Mrs Hansen surveyed the damage as she carefully picked her way through the path of metal scraps leading to the core of the destruction. She filed past the various medical personnel and found the way to her son. He was being strapped onto a stretcher. His eyes were closed, an oxygen mask was fixed over his mouth, and a neck brace was secured around his neck. Doctors and paramedics were milling around him, desperately trying to keep him alive.  
  
'Well,' Linda began, leaning casually against the side of the car, cigarette in mouth. 'What do you have to say to yourself?'  
  
Robbie's eyes shot open. 'Mom?!' He began to struggle in straps around him.  
  
The paramedic saw the struggling, and found that the patient was conscious. 'Hey, it's okay, we'll call your Mom soon.'  
  
'My Mom's dead!' Robbie wheezed, having trouble breathing.  
  
'Confusion,' the paramedic noted. 'Can you tell me what your name is?'  
  
'Robbie,' he began weakly. 'Robbie Hansen.'  
  
One of the doctors had found his wallet and proceeded to use the details to call the Hansen residence.  
  
'All right, Robbie,' the paramedic began, fixing an oxygen mask over his face. 'Relax, you're on your way to hospital now.'  
  
As the stretcher carrying him moved, his mother followed. 'Robbie, don't speak. Just listen.' Robbie turned his head and looked again at his mother. She looked the same as he had last seen her alive - dressed in the same pastel green skirt and jacket, the same strings of three pearls around her neck.  
  
'Now, dear,' she began again, taking another puff of her cigarette. 'Let me explain a few things to you. You got hurt very badly on that bike of yours. So badly, in fact, that you are slowly slipping into a coma.' She waited for the shock to sink in. 'On this side, we tend to call it the waiting room for the next room. In order to leave it the way you came in, you have to will yourself to wake up. It can't be a sort of, "Yeah, I wanna wake up," you really have to want to.'  
  
Robbie just stared at his mom. She sat there, talking to him so offhandedly, as if she were discussing the weather with him and not his impending death.  
  
'By the way, dear, if you get the chance to go back again, do something for me. Try and watch the sunrise once in a while. That's one thing you really miss over here.'  
  
She waved him goodbye as she faded away before his eyes. Robbie wondered whether he had received any trauma to the head as the world around him too began to fade away, into the surprisingly more comfortable blackness he had been enveloped into some minutes earlier.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	3. Joanie

Chapter 2: Joanie  
  
Joanie had not quite left for the Barkery when the house phone rang. Dropping her bag on the hall table, she picked up the receiver.  
  
'Hansen residence,' she greeted, glancing at her watch.  
  
'Hello,' the voice greeted. 'Could I please speak to a member of the Hansen family?'  
  
'This is Joanie Hansen,' she told them. 'What can I do for you?'  
  
'Well, Ms Hansen, this concerns Robbie Hansen.'  
  
'He's my brother,' Joanie clarified, wanting the person to get to the point so that she could get out the door.  
  
'Yes, right. Well, he's been in an accident...'  
  
The voice on the other end of the phone began to relate the details of Robbie's accident to her. Joanie listened, fear and panic creeping into her voice.  
  
'Y-yes,' she stuttered. She took a moment to compose herself. 'Of course. We'll be right there.' She hung up the phone and slid her back down the wall. It couldn't be true, she thought to herself. It had to be a mistake. But, deep inside, she knew it wasn't.  
  
She shook her head and ran, Hannah in her arms, downstairs to her Dad's office. She called for him, momentarily ignoring Heather.  
  
'Dad!'  
  
'Hey, Joanie' Jim walked out of the back room, holding his hands up in defence. He was about to make a joke, asking where the fire was, when he saw the terror on her face, and he knew that something was dreadfully wrong.  
  
'Dad,' Joanie began, taking a moment to catch her breath. 'We've got to get to the hospital. It's Robbie.'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
After what felt like hours, Jim and Joanie arrived at Rhode Island Hospital. Syd met them at the door after being called by Heather, who was nervously taking care of the one-year-old Hannah.  
  
One look at Syd's face could tell anyone that the news was not good.  
  
They walked swiftly along the corridor to Robbie's room, located in the ICU. As they hurried, Syd explained what had happened.  
  
'I've talked to Dr Gregory about his condition,' she began before swallowing. 'He's got multiple abrasions to the face, due to the broken glass in the screen of the helmet, as well as some to the legs. One of the legs of his jeans was ripped by the speed at which he skidded and rolled.' She paused again, the moment giving Joanie and Jim time only imagine what could have happened.  
  
'There's a breathing tube hooked up to a ventilator, and some broken ribs. The paramedics say the bike might have struck his chest at one point, maybe when they landed. He's also suffered a broken humorous.' She took a deep breath for the last part. 'There's worse to come. Robbie's in a coma.'  
  
Jim and Joanie stopped dead in their tracks.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The three Hansens stood outside the window leading into Robbie's window. They could not see a lot from out there, only slits through the blinds. Even from there, it did not look good. They each decided to go in separately at first, to say their private words to Robbie. Joanie walked into the room first.  
  
The scene was far worse than she had seen outside. It seemed as though a thousand wires connected him to various machines surrounding her brother's bed. There were a couple of heart monitors, an artificial respiration machine, several drips, and goodness knows what else.  
  
Underneath all the wires, Robbie looked horrific. Several cuts covered his face, worryingly close to his eyes. A large tube was fixed into his mouth, connected to the ventilator. The sheet was low enough to show that Robbie also had large, thick bandages around his ribs. Carefully, Joanie pulled the sheet above them, to keep him warm, but mostly wanting to eliminate as many signs of the damage as possible.  
  
She took hold of Robbie's left hand, of the arm that was not broken, and held it tightly.  
  
'Robbie,' she began, her voice containing a slight croak. 'I'm sorry I yelled this morning. I mean, all you were doing was complimenting your niece, and being nice to her. I took it the wrong way, and I snapped.'  
  
She paused for a moment. 'Actually, I do that an awful lot to you. You help me out so much. In your own way,' she added with a chuckle. 'Like with the money for the Barkery. And what do I do in return? Take it all out on you.' A tear rolled jumpily down her cheek. 'Come on, Robbie. Wake up, for Hannah and me. Please wake up.' Not being able to say any more, she kissed his hand and walked away, more tears following the first.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	4. Syd

Chapter 3: Syd  
  
Syd gave a quick, comforting hug to her sister before walking into Robbie's room and quietly closing the door. She thought of all the times she had been in a hospital. Sure, hospitals were nothing new to her, but seeing your brother hooked up to what seemed to be half the machines inside Rhode Island Hospital was an entirely new experience, and one that gave her a sickening feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. She thought that nothing would ever be worse than sitting with Kyle during his cancer. She had thought wrong.  
  
"Oh God, Robbie," she whispered, summing up everything inside her.  
  
She sat in the chair that Joanie had just vacated and took hold of Robbie's hand. She stroked it gently with her thumb for a moment, thinking about the times she and her brother had shared. She realised that they were few, adding to her grief.  
  
'Hey, bro,' she began, almost shyly. 'You think we should put the training wheels back on your bike?' She laughed quietly, despite the situation.  
  
She became serious. 'I guess now is the time to say some things I should have said. I hope you're listening.' She sniffed. 'Its typical. The last thing Dad wanted to say to Mom was "I love you," but when you don't say it, you may never get to. Hey, I'm not making any sense here.' She took a moment to calm down, and move away from garbled speech. 'It's like this morning. I didn't even get to say goodbye. All I did was yell at you. And I yelled at you when it wasn't your fault.' She paused before explaining, 'Joanie remembered she'd moved the keys, and I guess Hannah found them. But, we'd have known that if we'd stopped to ask for your side of the story.'  
  
She paused for a moment, as she was very close to crying. She moved onto a bigger topic of conversation. 'Its also the time to remember things I should have remembered. We've never been close. Partly due to the age gap, but mostly our differences. I've always been very career-minded. You know better; you know that there are more important things in life. I wish I could have realised that before now.'  
  
She choked and broke down at the end of this sentence. Wiping away the tears, she promised him, 'When you wake up, I'll promise I'll make it up to you, whether you like it or not.' Smiling through the grief, she gave his hand one last squeeze before alighting from the chair and leaving the room.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	5. Jim

Chapter 4: Jim  
  
As was the case with his previous child, Syd walked out of the room in tears. Jim took her into a comforting embrace, hushing her. 'It's okay,' he soothed her gently. 'Robbie is going to be fine.' It was not only his daughters that he was trying to convince. He wanted to stay and comfort them, but he knew where he needed to be. He let go of Syd, giving her shoulders a reassuring squeeze, and walked quietly into Robbie's room.  
  
He sat in the same chair that his two daughters had recently sat in, and took the same hand that had been used as a means of comfort.  
  
At first, he had no idea of what to say. He took a deep breath, waiting for the words to appear. He suddenly chuckled, using humour the same way Syd had done, as a means of coping. 'I'll bet you weren't scared of what happened, when you crashed. I bet you hurt a lot, but not scared.' As he had waited patiently outside, he had begun to imagine the scene of his youngest child being knocked from his bike. Each re-run became more dramatic and more frightening, adding new menaces.  
  
'You're not scared of anything. You never have been. All the times you got into trouble with your family, school, or even the police, I never remember you once seeing fear in your eyes. I started to wonder whether you were born with any fear. I mean, we broke into a zoo and stole a chimp! Do you remember that? You weren't scared then.'  
  
Jim took a deep breath. 'You may not have been scared then, during the crash, but I'll bet you're scared now. It's okay, if you are. Syd and Joanie are, and I sure as Hell know I am. I'm scared for you. I'm scared because I don't know what you're going through. And I'm scared to think that you might not wake up.' Jim had to stop for a moment, as he used his handkerchief to blow his nose.  
  
'You know,' he began thoughtfully. 'When your mother died, I thought that nothing worse could ever happen. I almost took it for granted that nothing worse would happen.' His voice began to crack. 'I took you for granted. Robbie, I'm so sorry.' Jim rested his hand on his arms, folded upon the bed, and cried silently. The only indication was the racking of his body as he sobbed.  
  
Outside, both Syd and Joanie saw the scene unfolding before them. Joanie began to move towards the door, but Syd's arm on her shoulder stopped her. They both knew that their father needed to be alone.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	6. Robbie

Chapter 5: Robbie  
  
He had heard it all. Every word of it. He heard Joanie's tearful apology, Syd's regret and his father's sorrow. It was foggy in his mind, like someone was standing with their back to him and talking, but he still heard it.  
  
If he had been able to, Robbie would have started to cry long before any other members of his family. But, instead, he had to lie there, showing no emotion, listening to every heartfelt word that each member of his family said to him.  
  
When his mother had given him the choice of living and dying, he was seriously considering taking the latter option. In fact, he was sure that he would. During the time that he had been in the coma, before his family had arrived, he had taken the time to reflect upon his life. He had amounted to very little. Sure, he had a job going at O'Neill's, but that was about it. He had never done one single thing to make his family proud, or to even impress them. He had doubted that his family would miss him if he had gone; a reflection of the fight that morning. Listening to them talk to him there, he had been proved wrong.  
  
As Robbie reflected on everything that had happened, hours could have passed. Or days. Or weeks. He thought about the life he had led up to that point. He had always found a way to get himself into trouble, and felt that he was a mark on the name of his family. But, he consoled himself; he had mostly managed to work his way out of things. A smooth talker. Remembering the show his father had put on at the Barkery not so long ago, he had not received that gift from his paternal side.  
  
But, he was younger then. He had grown up over the past years, and his life was back on track. He had a home. He had a job. He had friends, and most importantly, family who were there for him. His family wanted him.  
  
He had made his decision. He would go back to them. He would go back into the real world and face all.  
  
Robbie began to concentrate on waking up. He tried to figure out where his hand was, so that he could focus on moving it. He kept the same message going through his hand. 'Move hand! Move hand! Move hand!'  
  
Gradually, a new feeling filtered over Robbie. The tingling sensation started in the tips of his fingers, worked his way through his hand, up his arm and reached his shoulder. He dared to try and move his left hand.  
  
As he did, he heard voices around him. 'Dad! Joanie! His hand's moving!'  
  
Robbie recognised the voice as Syd's, and if he hadn't have been focusing so hard on getting the rest of him to move and wake up, he might have smiled.  
  
After some time, he let go of the breath he didn't even know he had been holding. He was satisfied that everything would be able to move, so he slowly opened his eyes. He could see his entire family staring back down at him, their eyes filled with hope.  
  
'Rob?' Jim finally asked after a moment of silence.  
  
Robbie tried to speak, but realised how much pain it caused him. In fact, he realised how much pain breathing caused him. After building up the strength, he replied, 'Hi guys.'  
  
Jim let out a sigh of relief, overjoyed to see that his son had finally awoken. A small squeal emitted from Joanie's mouth, sharing the same feeling as her father. Syd, who held her hand to cover her mouth, was beyond words.  
  
'Hey, Robbie, you had us worried for a minute there,' Joanie told him, her smile filled with glee. 'Actually, a bit more than a minute, try four days.'  
  
'It's all over now, though,' Jim cut in, not wanting to have Robbie upset, having just woken up.  
  
Robbie had to shut his eyes for a moment, partly because he was in a fair amount of pain, but mostly because he knew he was going to cry. He took another deep breath, and opened his eyes.  
  
'It's okay, Robbie,' Jim comforted, taking hold of his hand. Syd and Joanie stood, letting Jim help their brother. 'It's okay now. You're safe. It's okay.'  
  
Robbie's dry throat swallowed. His eyes surveyed all that was around him. Surrounding him were endless rows of machines, webs of wires and numerous other frightening pieces of medical equipment. How badly had he been hurt?  
  
'Dad,' Robbie began slowly, having trouble talking. His chest felt as though a two-tonne weight had been dropped on it.  
  
'Yes, Robbie? Do you need something?'  
  
No answer. The barriers broke and tears flowed down Robbie's scratched face, the salt water stinging. He choked as he cried, sending fire through his chest.  
  
As best he could with the equipment around him, Jim embraced his son, and stroked his soft hair. Robbie buried his face in the front of his father's shirt, and his left hand gripped the back of it. Jim rubbed his son's back in a calming way, allowing him to settle.  
  
'Dad,' he whispered in his father's ear. 'I was so scared.' He had never admitted to being scared before, but there was no other word to describe it. He was scared when he saw the car, when he was skidding along the road, when he had woken up on the stretcher, and all through hearing his family talk to him. And he was scared at that very moment. He rephrased it. 'I'm scared.'  
  
'It's okay, Robbie,' Jim told him. 'We're all here. It's going to be okay.'  
  
He laid Robbie back on the bed. His eyes were closed, this time in a peaceful slumber.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue:

Just over a week later, Robbie was discharged from hospital, under the strict orders that he would stay at home and rest. He was fussed over greatly by his family, bringing him drinks and snacks on an hourly basis. Even Hannah was happy to see him home, bringing Robbie her favourite platypus to play with.

Despite all slowly returning to normal, Robbie never forgot that short visit from his mother. One night, he set his alarm clock for Five AM. He awoke to the beeping before slowly lifting himself out of his bed. He strolled sleepily over to the window and pulled back his curtains. He was just in time to see the sun creeping over the skyline. The yellow-orange glimmered off of the almost still river that flowed through Providence, reflecting to the whole world.

He jumped to see his mother standing beside him. 'I'm glad you woke up.'

He stared out at the fantastic sight and smiled. 'I wouldn't miss it for the world.'

* * *

The End

* * *


End file.
